Improved battering or piercing raw for naval offense and defense



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JEROME WOODRUFF, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

IMPROVED BATTRING 0R PIERCING RAM FOR NAVAL OFFAENSE AND DEFENSE.

Speciiication lffnming part of Letters Patent No. 4 l, 736, dated February 23, 1864.'

4new and useful apparatus for coast and harbor defense, and for the purposes of naval warfare,- and the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, 'making a part of this specification.

Figure 1 represents a side view or elevation of the apparatus placed in the bow 'of a boat, with, its posit-ion changed in red lines. Fig.` 2 shows a plan or top view of the same. Fig. 3 is a frontend view of the steam-plunger apparatus in dotted lines.

rlhe object of my invention is to disable and capture ordamage and sink the gun-boats and vessels of an enemy in time. of war.

The nature of my invention consists in the application and use of steam operating direct on a piston, which is a hollow tube or shaft, through or into which is fitted a'h'eavy stiff iron beam or shaft to operate as a plunger or 4 a batteringram, the same passing through a stufling-box in a sliding segment in the bow of a boat, or in such'other positions as it'may be found to be of practical utility to place it, below the water-line, the cylinder being hung upon trunnions, and so arranged that the plunger can be elevated and'y depressed' and brought to bear at diierent angles on the hull of a vessel wheny attack vis made, while the poweris being applied and theplunger in full operation; also, the modeof inserting and securing different shape pointed instruments in the hollow piston from the inside or rear end. A

To enable others skilledl in the art of constructin g and operating steamengines, -1 willV proceed to describe the application, construetion, and opera-tion more fully, referring to the against them. The trunnions a a may serve the purpose for conncctingthe induction and eduction pipes, so that the steam-cylinder A will admit of the plunger C being moved up or down while the steam is on, operating it,

so that the point or sharp edge c will strike in dilerent places and cut or mortise a long" hole vertically in vwatertight compartments of any vessel that it can come in contact with; or it may be made to operate to destroy the rudders of vessels, so that they will be unmanageable.

The cylinder A may be inclined to such au angle that the plunger O c can be used to chop oft piles so ow down that vessels and gunboats can passover them safely, or it may be used to break upold hulks or othersunken obstructions in channels, and thereby allow the passage of gunboats and other engines oi' war intoA harbors.

The piston D, I make a hollow shaft of` large dimensions, and of such length as to extend through both heads of ,the vcylinder A, there being a stuiing-box,'band d, at both ends. There is also another stuflingbox, e, through which the piston D passes out through the bow E or side of, the boat. The stuing-box. e is secured to or made in a segment, F, the curve of which corresponds with the vradius of lthe circle whose center is the trunnionsa a,

on which the steam cylinderA is supported,

the segment F being titted to slide in grooves y ff'water-tight and placed in the bow E, or in other suitable positions in the sides of a boat. rlhe sliding segment F, through which the piston D and plunger O pass out through the boat, is necessary to allow the. plunger() tobc changed in its position while in operation.

, lf desirable, for various purposes, or should it become necessary from damage or other causes, to remove the shaft or'plunger C, it can be unfastencd where it is secured to the inner end of the hollow shaft or piston D by a doublesizcd screw-nut, G, and drawn in out of the way, and another point, c', or plunger inserted and securedin the saine manner; or should the point c of the plunger, which extends out beyond the piston, get crookedv or otherwise damaged, so that it could not be drawn in through the hollow piston D, the way to dispose of it is'to force it out front and let it go down and insert another in its place. The points of the plunger may be sharp cuttin g-edges, like a cold-chisel, pr pointed in any on which one or more of -these batteringram's.

are placed should b'- vprovided with 'suicient propellingpower and speed to be ableV to overhaul any ordinary steaming or sailing. craft. The plungerin the bow could lrst be brought to bear and carry away the rudder. A vessel thus disabled would be likely to be surrendered; but if' resistance was still made, the

plunger could be put in motion in passing alongside and speedily open her water-tight compartments.

With a boat lconstructed for the purpose, and

clad with ironfor steel suicient "to resist or v`glance of?? cannomprojectiles, and being 'provided with boilers and engine-power so as to possess a greater speed than any of the war vessels have or can well attain, owing to the armament they have to` carry, it will readily be seen that by application `and arrangement of the above-described apparatus, operating by steam-power, they will make the most 'formidable and destructive exlgine of naval warfare, by keeping our-waters clear of privateers, capturin g pirates and blockade-runners, 'while our coast, harbors, and cities will be protcted. i v l In constructing boats' for the purpose of risin g my new methodl of offense and defense,

they would not require to be large nor eumbersome, as they would not require to carry any ordnance other than a signal-gun. Nor would they need any magazine or storeroom for ammunition, and a much smaller complement of men could manage and operate them,

their fight-ing capacity being all in their boilers. and it is only necessary to have them large and stron g. With a supply of fuel and steam up, they are always ready for action-no am `munition giving out, no dismounting of guns,y and no loss of projectiles, and in close action quite sure to hit every time at the rate ci' from thirty to sixty times per minute.

Having thus fully described myinvention, its operation, and the effects to be produced, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The arrangementof the steam-cylinder and a hollow piston, which passes through a stuffing-box in a sliding segment, the same bein g tted to move up or down in a groove water-tight, so that the plunger can be chan ged in its position while in operation, substan tially in the manner herein described.

2. The plunger G, the Sallie being inserted' at the rear end and passing through the hollow piston D and secured in its place, to be operated by steam-power in the manner deseribed,for the purpose of oii'ense and defense in naval warfare, as specified.

JEROME l. WOODRUFF. Witnesses EDM. F. BROWN, ll. Kind. 

